Monday, November 1, 2010

Humbled

People say they are “humbled” when they receive some honor. Is it because they don’t want others to know how proud (arrogant) they are to receive the honor? Is it because they really think they don’t deserve this honor? Is it because they never want to be rewarded in front of others? What message they are trying to convey? I think the word choice is a little weird.

On the flip side, if the person says “I am honored”, then he/she is stating the obvious. A friend of mine told me “I am humbled” is a little more intimate than “I am honored”. He also said by referring to your humility, you are expressing an emotion or an internal condition.

It is a graceful gesture of accepting the honor with humility, rather than displaying vanity. It is a quid pro quo reciprocation of respect to the honor itself, and the person / institution bestowing the honor. This is socially appreciated, and often expected.

Me being me, I looked in the dictionary for the meaning of this word.

Humbled as a verb means:

a) to lower in condition, importanceb) to destroy the independence, power, or will of.c) to make meekd) to be overly submissive or compliant

If I use the above meanings I can translate like this:

I am "lowered in condition" by this honor.I am ""destroying the will of something" by this honor.I am now compliant by this honor.I am now submissive by this honor.

I think it also depends on the tone and the body language, it can turn the meaning of the word, one way or other. I have heard people use it with dignity. Some people also tend to goof up with the word. It all depends on your presentation.

strangely, I can never bring myself to say the word - humbled! I feel that if someone gives me an award, at least that person thinks I deserve it. then why will I be humbled? I am confident about myself. use of humbled makes it sound as if I doubt myself!

I also thought of looking up the dictionary and was about to open it when i saw that u had already done that for me :)I would never use humbled why should i be humbled and yes i would think the way you have written if someone uses it, so honored it is for me